TOP CHALLENGES THAT CAN BE OVERCOME USING BATCHMASTER CHEMICAL MANUFACTURING SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS
BatchMaster Software solutions give chemicals manufacturers better control over their product development, production, quality control, and regulatory compliance processes in order to overcome these challenges:
1. Formula Additives:
Specifications can call for hundreds of liters for one additive, but only a few milliliters of another. Sometimes only small changes in the amounts of additives used in a batch job can have a significant impact on the finished product.
- Leverage automatic SKU unit of measure conversions with quantity levels defined down to 6 decimal places.
2. Formula Complexity:
Chemical formulations can have a complex multi-level hierarchy or have a set of active and filler additives. In some cases a finished good specification can be made up of 2 parts, each part with its own set of additives and properties, and when combined, the resulting finished product will have its own specifications.
- Define specifications manage the proportions of the components and properly summarize additive properties to ensure the accuracy of intermediates and finished goods quality and efficacy. Manage user chemical equations to calculate a product’s unique physical properties.
3. Ingredient Variability:
Managing concentrated additives, potencies and strengths, as well as any required dilutions can be challenging.
- Raw material variabilities by lot are managed in the formulation and batch production processes.
4. Safety Risks:
The production and handling of hazardous chemicals in the plant can pose significant safety risks to workers.
- Strict safety protocols are defined in the system library, added into the specifications, and then presented to workers during task execution, either in paper and/or digital form.
5. Storage:
Some chemicals can be sensitive to temperature and humidity, and others may be of high value, which may require specialized storage areas to ensure product quality and security.
- Define the location rules for storing certain product types. Establish inspection plans to check the environments of certain facility areas. Establish stability tests for certain intermediates before they are used in batch jobs and for finished goods before they are shipping.
6. Regulatory compliance:
Chemical manufacturers must comply with a range of domestic and international regulations (e.g. GHS, REACH), related to product labeling, handling, transportation, and disposal, in addition to multi language and currency concerns.
- Document Management features and an integration of one of the leading SDS authoring solutions enable companies to generate the necessary documents and labels.
7. Quality control:
Faced with the variability in raw materials, the complexities in the production process, and possible regulatory penalties, chemical manufacturers must establish strict quality control standards.
- Define and execute customer specific QC tests, as well as record and manage deviations and reworks, to ensure that products meet customer and auditor requirements. Nonconformance and CAPA features support one’s continuous improvement initiatives.
8. Environmental impact:
The production of many chemicals can have a significant environmental impact, including air and water pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and waste generation.
- By-products can be defined in the formula to represent these areas, along with data collection and quality tests to track the resulting outputs.
